Digital banking: Is it reaching those who need it most?

Pakistan’s financial inclusion story has become something of a success tale. More than 6.8 million new unique bank accounts were added during 2025, with women making up 55 percent of new account holders. The overall inclusion rate has risen to 69 percent, while the gender gap in financial access narrowed to 29 percent. The headline is encouraging. The details deserve a closer look.

Much of the credit goes to digital rails. Raast, the SBP’s instant payment system, has moved from a policy idea to a daily habit. It handled over a billion transactions in FY25, carrying PKR 29.6 trillion. Wallets are also pushing into small business: JazzCash on boarded its one millionth merchant on the Raast platform in March 2026. A tea stall owner or a vegetable seller can now accept payment with a QR code, with no card machine and no bank visit.

But an account is not the same as use. Surveys suggest the gender divide is stubborn. Karandaaz’s 2024 survey found only 14 percent of women had full-service financial accounts, against 56 percent of men, while mobile ownership stood at 46 percent for women and 82 percent for men. The figures use different definitions from the SBP’s headline inclusion rate, so they are not directly comparable, but they point to the same issue: ownership of an account does not guarantee independent use of it. Many women’s accounts are opened for a government payment and then barely touched, or operated through a husband’s or son’s phone.

Awareness is another hurdle. Commentators note that financial illiteracy is slowing adoption, as people are unable or unwilling to use digital wallets and payment systems. A first-time user who sends money to the wrong number, or loses a PIN, may simply return to cash and never try again. Trust, once lost, is expensive to rebuild.

The SBP is aiming higher. It has set national targets of 75 percent financial inclusion and a gender gap of 25 percent by 2028. Reaching them will need more than app downloads. Three things would help.

First, simpler design: local-language interfaces, voice guidance and quick dispute resolution. Second, agents, and branches that women feel comfortable visiting, preferably staffed by women. Third, useful products beyond payments, such as small savings goals, micro-insurance and credit for home-based businesses. When people can earn, save and borrow on the same platform, they have a reason to keep using it.

There is also a case for linking incentives to activity rather than openings. Rewarding providers for accounts that stay active, rather than for simply signing people up, would shift attention to quality. Regulators already publish district-level dashboards, which gives them the data to do exactly that.

Pakistan has built much of the plumbing. The next test is whether the system serves the rural woman, the small trader and the first-time smartphone user as well as it serves the urban professional. If it does, digital banking will be remembered as a real turning point. If not, it will be a well-designed system with plenty of accounts and too few users.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026